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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Lynne Perednia has commented on (38) products
Mr Toppit
by
Charles Elton
Lynne Perednia
, November 09, 2010
Imagine sharing your name with the main character in a series of children's books written by your father. Now imagine being his sister, who isn't in the books. These dilemmas are the crux of Charles Elton's darkly comic, heartachingly marvelous Mr. Toppit. Mr. Toppit is the character in the Hayseed Chronicles who is never seen, but who often compels young Luke Hayseed to undertake all sorts of adventures and tests of courage. At the end of the last book, Mr. Toppit emerges from the woods behind Luke's home. But that is all anyone knows of him, for Luke's father, Arthur Haymon, doesn't write any more books. They were never big sellers. But then Arthur dies, struck in the road after visiting his publisher. As he lays dying, American tourist Laurie Clow tries to comfort him. Frustrated child of a mother with Alzheimer's and performing a dead-end hospital radio job, Laurie latches onto Arthur as if he was her lifesaver. Whch is just what he becomes. Laurie, after worming her way into the Haymon family home as easily as she hopped onto Arthur's ambulance, goes back to Modesto, reads the Hayseed Chronicles over the hospital radio airwaves, and a star is born. She ends up with an Oprah-like TV program while Arthur's books take off in popularity akin to, well, you know who. The real Luke is not the publicity hound many want him to be when the books take off in popularity. There is much of the "no thanks, I'm English" about him, and while he is not driven in any particular direction, neither does he want to be driven by others. His experience has been that the things he does try to do end up being twisted. Things that happened to him were rearranged by his father in the books, and no one believes the truth. They would rather believe he is Luke Hayseed. His sister, Rachel, Luke realizes, is worse off. She has the Hayseed legacy as well, but she does not exist in the books. The stories of these three characters are the focus of Elton's strong debut novel. It's easy at times to despise Laurie, while at others sympathy is earned. She's part monster, part hapless wannabe important person. Like the other main characters, she is never completely in control of her life. Luke remains a cipher, perhaps on purpose, as other characters try to imprint their version of the fictional Luke onto him. Rachel veers between trying to make something of the Hayseed legacy and trying to shed its power over her. She is fragile yet fiercely alive. Elton often uses dark humor to show how ridiculous it can be to have such a legacy over one's head. Arthur's funeral and the reception following, for example, are brilliant in sharply skewering society. The contrast between Luke's England and Laurie's America also offers dark humor opportunities that are used well and not overdone. Many of the secondary characters are surely descendants of those created by Dickens and Austen. Much of the power in Elton's novel comes from his ability to show the abundant contrasts in life. Luke Haymon isn't Luke Hayseed. Laurie Clow is not a member of the family but successfully makes herself important to them in a way that an older would-be helper does not. Arthur is not successful while alive but makes pots of money as a dead author. Luke and Rachel's mother gave up working on her PhD to work for the man who worked with Arthur, but she never shows any wisdom. In the books, the woods are the dark place while the Hayseed house is in the light. In real life, the house is shunned by the children while they seek the woods as a place of play and solace. All the contrasts, characters and happenings work together in examining who do books belong to after they are written, particularly if they are beloved books. And what choice to some people have when their legacy threatens to overshadow anything they may accomplish on their own? Elton allows readers to draw their own conclusions.
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Bury Your Dead Chief Inspector Gamache
by
Louise Penny
Lynne Perednia
, September 27, 2010
Louise Penny began her Three Pines/Inspector Gamache series in the charming, Brigadoon-like Quebec village of Three Pines, where artists and creativity thrive and evil lurks, as traditional mysteries. The cast of suspects was limited in Miss Marple fashion. Quirkiness, such as celebrated poet and unrelenting crank Ruth Zardo, were highly regarded. But as the series has continued, its creator has made each novel subtly more complex. Although food, art and quirkiness are still esteemed in Louise Penny's novels, there is far more going on in them than eccentricity and fair-play whodunits. The focus of the novels has become the human journey of forgiveness, despite knowing all too well the frailties of the other person involved. This focus has been the foundation of the last two novels. The plot of The Brutal Telling, Penny's incredible last novel, changed everything. How life goes on is addressed in Bury Your Dead as Gamache carries on after both that case and a traumatic incident in which lives were lost. In Bury Your Dead, Gamache is healing from external and internal injuries. At first, the reader only knows that something went horribly wrong, that police officers died and that Gamache blames himself. What happened is revealed gradually in flashbacks that are written and placed the way that flashbacks should be used. Since Gamache blames himself, he cannot forgive himself. And that leads him to question what he did in the last book. Woven into the dual storylines of questioning himself in both incidents, Gamache and his deputy Beauvoir must face their assumptions about individuals. One will do some forgiving, while the other will need to be forgiven. And both are going to have to deal with people they may not be able to forgive. The people of Three Pines continue to play a pivotal role as well. And some of them who may have some work to do in the forgiving department will, it is hoped, begin that process in the next Louise Penny novel. Because Penny writes with such clarity and deceptive simplicity that conveys complex and subtle humanity, Bury Your Dead does stand on its own. However, the richness of what she is doing will be savored all the more if one reads the entire series. This is a writer to watch grow and to enjoy every step of the journey her characters take.
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Tears of the Mountain
by
John Addiego
Lynne Perednia
, September 06, 2010
The histories of both Jeremiah McKinley and old California are displayed during the course of the Fourth of July in 1876 in John Addiego's new novel. Jeremiah is one of those characters who just want to live a quiet life, to live and let live. But the most interesting things happen to him, and it all catches up with him during the course of this day. Jumping back and forth between his past and the current day, Tears of the Mountain uses Jeremiah's life to showcase the struggle to survive and wonders of what he and his family find along the way. In the present, Jeremiah and his wife, who was his first love, have a family. He is respected in the Sonoma community. He has friends throughout society's spectrum, including a reprobate old professor who is coming in on the morning train. But before the reader gets very far, the scene jumps back to when Jeremiah was a boy and his family crossed the country to get to California. If not for what the reader already knows, there are times it's a wonder anyone survives the crossing. The McKinley family and the rest of their train encounter water deprivation, run-ins with tribes who treat the intruders wrong, quarrels among the emigrants and those mountains. Jeremiah's mother has been raising the family without his father, a mountain man who took off for years after the eldest son died. Daniel returns without notice and abruptly commands the family to pack up. They're headed for the West. During the epic journey, Daniel is compared to Job by Jeremiah, while he is given the roles of prophet and leader by the other members of the train. The remarkable accomplishment is that Addiego sets it up so this works during the trip. But there is little connection to the grown Jeremiah. In the novel's current day, Jeremiah is a character who reacts to what happens to him. Although this often happened during his journey as a youth, Jeremiah also acted. As an adult, this device acts more as a reason to throw everything that happened during the 1870s up against the wall that is Jeremiah's life to see if it sticks. Jeremiah visits the hot springs spa at the local hotel, awaits the arrival of his old professor who publicaly insults the senator speaking from the back of the railroad car and is drawn into a seance at the worship center of a local cult leader. A young boy is brought to Jeremiah's farm by his parents and he insists he is the reincarnated Daniel, Jeremiah's father. Jeremiah begins the day with a strange dream involving his first wife who died, and strange greetings to him through the day make him question the faithfulness of his current wife, and she of him. Much ado is made of people and events that eventually peter out. None of these events or characters propel the narrative forward. They are like rocks in a clear stream that create detours, instead of obstacles to overcome that determine character. The best explanation offered is that Jeremiah holds the story of Exodus dear because he sees how humans are frail and act against their own better interests. Seeing this helps him to forgive others. In addition to Jeremiah's full day, the time shifts continue throughout the story in alternating chapters. These shifts between segments are carried out with sentences that seque from one scene to another. It doesn't always work smoothly, but it is a poetic way to show how anyone's thoughts lead naturally from the present to the past and back again. Also Jeremiah feels dislodged from normal time during the latter day parts of the novel. He wonders if a person can rest his soul beside the flowing river and be in more than one place at the same time. It's a fascinating idea but sometimes feel disconnected from the individual segments of the story. Smooth out the timeline, and a lot happens to Jeremiah, meeting Fremont and being in on the 1846 attempt to create the Republic of California by wresting land from the Mexicans already there, to the gold fields, dangerous San Francisco and back to the family farm. Key events often are not chronicled directly in the narrative, but referred to beforehand and afterwards. Tears of the Mountain does have its strengths. It is filled with beautiful writing at the wondrous marvels of California and some of the people who helped form her character by the time of that 1876 holiday. High spots of the journey include conversations with a Southern emigrant and others about the appropriateness of said emigrant enslaving a young Indian caught stealing, the ways that the emigrants separate and how the small group with Jeremiah's family finally finds their new homes. Throughout, the novel features excellent descriptive passages of the landscape and how it affects the characters. Because that's how it is out West. The land is part of us. Combine that with a passage of Jeremiah noting he feels he has spent his life "trying to understand things of light and dark", and Tears of the Mountain is an ambitious idea about how to relate the enormous challenge of making a new life in a new land. Although this may not be a perfect novel, there is much to recommend in it. Best of all, the sense of place and how someone who loves his home forges his life stay with the reader. That is, indeed, something worth celebrating.
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Id Know You Anywhere
by
Laura Lippman
Lynne Perednia
, August 31, 2010
What happens to the girl who lives through her kidnapping and the murder of other girls? What made her different? How does she put her life back together? How does her family cope? And what happens if she buries it all but the past comes back to try to reclaim her? These are some of the questions Laura Lippman addresses in her new standalone novel, I'd Know You Anywhere. That these questions are addressed through the action of the story and by what the characters do shows what a strong book this is, even stronger and more subtle than her brilliant last standalone, Life Sentences. Eliza Benedict has a perfectly beautiful life, glimpsed from the outside. She and her successful, always supportive husband have two wonderful children. She doesn't have to work. Yet from the first scene, Eliza is seen as semi-fretful, as worrying that it's not all perfect, that something might turn sour and go wrong. Perhaps that's because something in her life went very, very wrong. As a bored teenager who wore Madonna-style clothes in the mid-80s, Elizabeth Lerner went walking to a nearby fast-food place against her parents' rules. Cutting through a state park, she came across a young man with a shovel. That man, Walter Bowman, was burying his latest victim. He then kidnaps Elizabeth and eventually rapes her. She survives more than two months with him, driving from place to place, Walter doing odd jobs for cash and Elizabeth knowing that at any minute, he could kill her and then go for her family. Walter kidnaps a second girl, a blond beauty who has every gift Elizabeth lacks in looks and charisma. That girl dies and Elizabeth is rescued when a cop pulls Walter over. More than 20 years later, Walter is running out of time on Death Row. Elizabeth changed her name to Eliza and hopes the world has forgotten her assailant. But he sends her a letter, that he has seen a recent photo of her and her husband in a magazine and that he would know her anywhere. Won't she please write back? As Walter's execution date nears, the novel goes back and forth between the present and those days when Eliza was kidnapped Elizabeth. This structure serves its purpose well in letting the reader know just what happened back then, and how people who were not there can reasonably come up with their own scenarios. Those people include a death penalty opponent who has made Walter her cause, the parent of a murdered girl and a true crime writer who published a book about Walter's crimes. This structure allows the presence of these characters who were not there to make a strong impact on what happens in the present in a manner that creates extreme suspense. Even while wondering what is going to happen to Eliza, to Walter, whether Eliza's children will learn about what happened to her and who will tell them, Lippman uses these characters and their situations to delve into many of the questions that accompany such a traumatic event. Over time, how did Elizabeth's kidnap, rape and rescue affect her? How did it affect her family? Can she, or any of her family, forgive Walter? What about other victims and their families? Eliza feels guilty for being the girl who got away, especially as she does not understand how this happened. When others want to accuse her of being Walter's willing lover or accomplice, her hurt is palpably greater than when she was first taken. Looking at Walter Bowman's crimes through so many different perspectives makes what happened in Lippman's novel seem far more real than the sensational crimes publicized via cable TV and magazine checkout stands. Many types of hurt are acknowledged, but the author makes clear that just because some characters set up dichotomies regarding one hurt counting more than another, that is not true. Being hurt is being hurt. Grief is grief. And a victim is a victim, even if one survives. Because although Lippman is fairly even-handed in drawing the characters, she also makes certain that the focus remains on Eliza/Elizabeth. Eliza's husband may be a wee bit too perfect, getting the climactic scene set up may take a bit of disbelief suspension, but these are quibbles compared to the way everything else works so well throughout the novel. Every action a character takes makes perfect sense for that character at that particular time, which is an even more remarkable achievement when different scenarios are presented. Best of all, Lippman takes what could easily be lurid fare and makes it an honest search for answers. And every character is someone that you, too, could very well know anywhere.
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Nobodies Album
by
Carolyn Parkhurst
Lynne Perednia
, July 27, 2010
When we first meet Octavia Frost, Dear Reader, she could come across as a smug, knowledgeable woman more proud of her novels than her estranged rock star son. But, as with other things going on in The Nobodies Album, don't come to a hasty conclusion. There's a reason why Octavia and Milo haven't spoken in years. Octavia is in Times Square, going to her publishers to drop off her latest project. It's called The Nobodies Album, a name that came from her son, and is new endings of her earlier works. But Octavia is not introduced as a woman who wants a second chance. Instead, her genesis for the reader is a meditation on how she affects the life of every reader of her works, how she puts ideas in their heads that were not there before. When she sees on the Times Square newscrawl that her son has been arrested in San Francisco for the murder of his lover, she's on the next plane. Oh yes. She wants a second chance, the opportunity to rewrite her own life. In between the segments of teh main storyline of what happens when Octavia flies across the country to see if her son will let her back in, and what she can do to help him, are interspersed the original and revised endings of her novels. These are stunning pieces of meta-fiction that add so much knowledge to what happened to this family, and a solid understanding of how those who survived a horrific accident have been shaped. There is a lot going on in this novel, but it's all paced perfectly. As Octavia meets the people now most important in her son's life, she also shows how people find out about celebrities in today's online world. She's nearly a cyber stalker. Later, the tables are momentarily turned on her. It's another layer to the main story of how people who love want a second chance when things go wrong. They just want to know what's going on, to do a better job, brush the mistakes away, make the connections stronger. Parkhurst, whose Dogs of Babel was so appreciated, has much to say about writing itself and what it demands of a writer. She also has commentary dropped in here and there about what readers may think they discern about the writer herself based on the works. Parkhurst even has Octavia do the same thing about a fellow writer. And not by interpreting that writer's books, but by watching a movie based on a bestselling novel. We all know how faithful those adaptations are. It's this kind of human foible presentations that keep The Nobodies Album, well, human. Parkhurst has tremendous ideas about ficiton and the process of writing, about second chances in life and how parents mess things up without meaning to hurt. She also has kept this novel firmly grounded in realistic characters who are not perfect and who are viewed through a lens of compassion. Finding out about the murder makes for a pretty zippy story, too. Present all of that with the distinctive voice of Octavia Frost, an accomplishment in its own right, and The Nobodies Album is a lotta book in roughly 300 pages.
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Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Creating Currents of Electricity & Hope
by
William Kamkwamba
Lynne Perednia
, July 27, 2010
Growing up in Malawai, William Kamkwamba listened to his grandfather's tales of men with magic who cursed people and leopards who ate them. He listened well, because he knows how to weave a tale himself in relating his own journey from farming to creating his own technology. The early part of young Kamkwamba's story portrays a carefree existence with friends. School wasn't taken seriously, even if he wanted to do well, and family are good people who clearly love and like each other. Famine slowly but inevitably strangles their dreams and claims its victims. There is a particularly difficult passage regarding an animal who adopts Kamkwamba that is very hard to read. But he does not spare himself in relating it. The famine goes for years; survival is hardly guaranteed. It affects reader interest -- writing about the famine appears to be the author's main point for pages and pages instead of the contraption he created -- and also affects diffident student Kamkwamba's chances of being able to stay at school. But a sympathetic librarian lets him read about electricity and engineering. And that makes all the difference. It is in the telling of how he creates an electricity-producing generator, using such items as pipeline, a seriously broken down bicycle and paper clips, that Kamkwamba shines in telling his story. His success, and how his village reacts to what he's done, are delightful, even though they also are the parts most consciously written for a Western audience. His subsequent international acclaim isn't half as exciting. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a story for anyone who needs to see that anything is still possible these days, regardless of how little a person has or how unconnected to a network of people who make things happen. Kamkwamba explicitly states he hopes others who struggle will hear of what he has done and know they are not alone. Kamkwamba's philosophy is simple: "If you want to make it, all you have to do is try." Although such an idea may seem naive, its ability to help a determined young man is amply demonstrated.
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Passage
by
Justin Cronin
Lynne Perednia
, July 25, 2010
By now most have heard about The Passage, how it's this huge book about vampires, a post-apocalyptic thriller with non-stop action and a little girl immune to the virus that's making monsters, the first in a trilogy that's caught fire. That's all true. But The Passage also is a work of literary mastery that is a strong story of love. Parental love, sibling love, love that lasts across the years -- that's what The Passage is about as much as it is about viral vampires and a small band of people surviving the biggest experiment-gone-wrong ever. Justin Cronin begins his story with two narratives. One is a heart-tugging tale of a smalltown girl who believed the wrong man, got pregnant and went inevitably downhill. Her little girl sleeps in motel bathtubs while she entertains male customers. At the same time, a group of scientists penetrates the jungle in search of what may be one of mankind's most important medical discoveries. Things go horribly wrong. The two narratives meet when the little girl, Amy, is snatched to be inoculated with the virus that has twelve creatures hidden in a Rockies citadel. She doesn't turn into one of the viral vampires like the others. When the whole place explodes, Amy is whisked away by Wolgast, the agent who snatched her in the first place, with help that includes a nun with genuine spirit and grace. Shift to decades in the future, when civilization in North America has collapsed and nothing is known of the outside world. A small enclave out West has survived through the generations after children were put on trains to travel to remote safe havens. Again, Cronin is masterful at introducing another large cast of new characters, distinct in their hopes, dreams and shortcomings, with compassion for human foibles and admiration at human strength. The way Cronin's characters know each other and care for each other propels the story as surely as the action scenes, which range from strategically complex battles to a nail-biting train ride that's right up there with any cinematic car chase. Cronin's story also demonstrates the strength of individual ability to love and maintain one's identity as power in an allegorical fight that takes place when the virus runs rampant and the battle for a civilization to survive looks perilous. One of the things that makes The Passage so strong is that each of the separate strands in this huge epic stand alone. Any of them would make a satisfying story without any of the rest. But weave them together, especially as well as Cronin has done, and you've got a powerfully moving, exciting adventure filled with small moments that can take your breath away as adeptly as the pounding action scenes. A small encounter toward the end is such a moving moment the reader is nearly dared to not get misty eyed. That scene is one of several that Cronin underwrites so they stand out all the more. Whenever the next book in the trilogy to which this is the first comes out, it cannot be soon enough.
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Men Who Would Be King An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls Movies & a Company Called DreamWorks
by
Nicole LaPorte
Lynne Perednia
, July 18, 2010
Once upon a time, three boy-men thought they were pretty good at what they did and pretty important. So did the rest of the world. Then they joined forces, formed DreamWorks SKG and it all fell apart. Putting the story of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen together in an easily understood format, despite a huge cast, special effects and multiple storylines, is former Variety reporter Nicole LaPorte. Her book is as detailed as the great entertainment biz reporting of the 80's and 90's by Connie Bruck, Bryan Burrough and Ken Auletta in Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. All the background noise fades, though, in making clear that the broken promise of this would-be indepedent Hollywood live film, animation, TV, music and game behemoth came down to the personal stories of its founders. LaPorte shows through carefully documented reporting that Spielberg and Katzenberg, creative and successful, were dependent on father figures in their careers and floundered without them. Katzenberg and Geffen were motivated by the desire for revenge. Katzenberg went to court for millions after Disney head Michael Eisner kicked him out even after he shepherded in the great animated film renaissance. Geffen was determined to destroy uber agent Michael Ovitz, who destroyed his own career when he went to Disney and ended up with the ultimate golden parachute of $140 million for trying to run the company into the ground. (And, yes, it's easy to see how rewarding this kind of behavior has led to all kinds of messes in business far beyond Hollywood.) It's the cult of personal relationships, who is close to the big three -- especially Spielberg -- and the problems of putting ego and being right ahead of everything else that sunk DreamWorks. From the beginning, the enterprise was probably doomed when people were not named to specific jobs, but were supposed to drift toward the jobs that suited them best. As a single creative person that may work, but when works of art that are collaborative projects are at stake, confusion reigned. That LaPorte can spell out how this happened without condemning the big three, or their principal employees, makes this book valuable as the first draft of the latest chapter of Hollywood history. This is old-fashioned journalism that chronicles what happened without the spin. The who, what and why of how individual films came to be made or not, and the fates of the other divisions of DreamWorks, build into a coherent whole. Putting together the technical and political stories of how the first Shrek film came to be made is a prime example of how well LaPorte weaves together complex maneuverings. The story of what happened to DreamWorks doesn't chronicle only the hubris, talent and mistakes of Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen. It also shows what Hollywood was like during its last heyday before it was completely taken over by multinational corporations interested only in bigger and better profits. This is the story of Hollywood excess as the 20th century closed and a new age began. It's doubtful we'll see its like again.
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Stories All New Tales Edited by Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio
by
Gaiman, Neil and Sarrantonio, Al
Lynne Perednia
, July 17, 2010
Speaking with clarity and heart about the worlds that open up with the telling of tales, Neil Gaiman lays down the genre wars gauntlet with "Just Four Words", his brilliant introduction to the brilliant anthology, Stories. And what tales these are in the collection edited by Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, from authors known for their work in literary and genre, all addressing those four important words in the introduction. "...and when what happened?" is what draws readers into a story and keeps them going, and Gaiman is one of the masters today in knowing this. People are missing out on stories they may love because of genre boundaries, which Gaiman calls frustrating. Instead of serving their initial purpose "to guide people around bookshops", Gaiman notes genre boundaries "now seemed to be dictating the kind of stories that were being written". So readers who think they only like certain kinds of stories are the ones who could get the most from browsing Stories. There is definitely something for everyone. But more importantly, these stories are highly successful at answering the question posed by those four words. Even the ones that are not stellar winners are still interesting, which is rare for any anthology. Complicated sibling relationships feature in the strongest stories by Joyce Carol Oates (Fossil-Figures) and Carolyn Parkhurst (Unwell). The voice Parkhurst creates in her story is so strong and serves the story so well that I am now reading her new novel, The Nobodies Album. Stories by Gaiman (The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains) and Joe Hill are modern fairy tales that have the ring of being from a different time and place. Hill's has the unnecessary gimmick of typeset resembling stairs, an important factor in his story "The Devil on the Staircase". But the power of addressing Gaiman's four words overpowers that misstep. Lawrence Block's "Catch and Release" beats any coy tale you may know. Michael Swannick plays with meta fiction and fairy tale, while Kat Howard has another meta story. Walter Mosley's Juvenal Nyx is complicated world rendered understandable within the confines of a short story, a world that could be expanded into any number of stories. Polka Dots and Moonbeams is a dreamy, noir-like tale from Jeffrey Ford. Jeffery Deaver's The Therapist is excellent with its twists and turns to complete a fully realized story. This is not just a slice of life, but is a complete, vibrant story. Elizabeth Hand is represented by The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon, which could have gone in any number of directions but was actually sweet. Stories also features tales told by unreliable narrators, winners and losers. Other authors contributing range from Richard Adams and Jodi Picoult to Peter Straub, Chuck Palahniuk and Diana Wynne Jones. The great Gene Wolfe is here, as is the one and only Jonathan Carroll. The voices are varied, the tenor and complexity of the stories vary, but all the Stories lead the reader to want to know what happens next. The anthology also shows how strong storytelling beats genre pigeonholes any time.
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Think of a Number
by
John Verdon
Lynne Perednia
, July 05, 2010
Gurney is one of those ultimate tough-guy cops who, when retired, tries to lead a quiet life. He has moved to the quiet countryside from the big city to please his wife. He took an art class with her and is developing a growing reputation recreating mug shots of serial killers that reflect what he sees in their faces. It's a little too close to the life he once led, his wife notes. Madeline has a point. The minute a college classmate contacts him after decades of silence with a poisoned pen puzzle, Gurney's intrigued. Too bad his easily picqued interest may cost either or both he and his wife their lives before the end of John Verdon's debut thriller. From the letter writer knowing what number the intended victim, a successful spiritual lifestyle guru, will choose to the Gurneys figuring out the signatory refers to the hard place in the original spot of being between a rock and a hard place, Verdon shows just how easy it is for his protagonist to slip back into his analytical way of looking at life. Solving the puzzle is what makes this cop tick. And this villian knows how to be clever and tricky. When murder occurs, with clues that lead virtually nowhere, Gurney's even more intrigued. So perhaps it's just as well that a politically ambitious district attorney hires him to help with the investigation. This is where Think of a Number jumps into high gear. Although Verdon's story has been smooth in setting up everything, the pace has been that of a more controlled procedural whodunit rather than the usual high-octane, all-action thriller that is more prevalent these days. Verdon, however, is terrific at giving both kinds of reader substantial entertainment. The chase to find a cold-blooded, calculating killer with an enormous grudge fires on all cylinders. But Verdon also has ideas for readers who like multi-layered fiction that is about characters as much as action. The two sides of a personality is one theme that Gurney wrestles with. The lifestyle guru, for example, talks about the difference between the person everyone thinks they are and the person everyone else sees. Gurney's art reflects the two sides of the quiet neighbors who turn out to be the Gacys and Dahmers of the world. These ideas play into the revelations about the killer. This idea plays right into something else Gurney is told, that life is meant to be lived with others, that life's meaning is to be close to others. Gurney's father was the opposite of a sociable, family man, and perhaps that left Gurney detached enough to make him the great cop he was. And boy, does the reader know what a great cop Gurney was. His ability to crack the hard cases is referred to multiple times. Although it's irritating to keep reading that Gurney was the best of the best, Verdon does a good job of bringing a retired cop into an active murder investigation. Verdon also is very good at describing police procedure and a detective's life, both on the job and retired. At the story's conclusion, Verdon does a great job of bringing together the ideas about Gurney's character and outlook on life with how the case plays out. He does this in such a way that Gurney would be a character worth checking in on again.
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Man From Beijing
by
Henning Mankell
Lynne Perednia
, June 19, 2010
Although Henning Mankell is known primarily for his crime fiction featuring Wallender and his family in Sweden, The Man from Beijing is truly an international work of fiction. And although it begins with the discovery of a savage massacre in a remote Swedish village, this is not really crime fiction. Instead, The Man from Beijing is a story of empire-building corruption, family ties and revenge that spans China, old Europe, new America and Africa. A wolf looking for solitary territory is the first to discover the bodies in that Swedish village. A traveling photographer is next. The police methodically try to follow procedure to solve the crime, but it's just not the kind of situation that lends itself to by-the-book thinking. And when someone who isn't thinking inside the box comes along, her ability to find clues and make connections isn't appreciated. It doesn't matter to the police that Birgitta Roslin is a judge; she is an interference. Her discoveries mesh with what the reader knows as the story turns to that of San. The young Chinese man begins by losing his parents and is forced to work on the railroad in the American West of the 1860s. His cruel overseer is a distant relative of descendants who will eventually be foster parents to Birgitta's mother, and the boss's diary reveals another side of the story. The reader also meets Ya Ru, a modern Chinese financier with ties to the ruling politburo and big plans rooted in the cruelties of the railroad gangs. Mankell has put into place the makings of a terrific revenge story that spans more than 100 years. But that's not the full scope of his intent, and he pulls off his intentions brilliantly. What he chronicles in this tale of two families, subordination and revenge is the rise and fall of empires, of how the enslaved become the slaveowners and how those who once ruled will someday be the ruled. And no matter how well it is known that one's ancestors suffered, it is always possible to rationalize becoming one of the rulers, one of the colonizers, one of the empire builders. The Man from Beijing concerns itself not only with empires, but also how an individual's philosophy can change, say, from promoting revolution to collecting wine, or how a revolutionary can appear to be the old-fashioned one. Mankell is wise enough to let his readers draw their own conclusions. He has drawn the map well for his readers and then allows them to make the journey for themselves.
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Week in December
by
Sebastian Faulks
Lynne Perednia
, June 18, 2010
Seven days, seven characters, seven lives that nearly intersect but don't quite -- this is the way Sebastian Faulks tells his latest story. The main focus is on a cold character who manages a hedge fund, one of those shadowy capitalists who live only to make money. As with many characters of this ilk, he has a wonderful family that he neglects and no clue about what has real value in his life. John Veals already has more money than he and 20 clones could spend, but amassing more fortune isn't what drives him. It's beating the system. And since he's been so good at it, the stakes keep getting higher. He gets more sanguine about what his amoral plotting may do to innocent people and the world economy (his deputy feels the same way). Meantime, his teenage son displays his heritage only by becoming more jaded about how much pot he smokes and how much time he spends watching a reality show featuring genuinely mentally ill people. The boy's only other pastime is spent in on online world. This same online world is fascinating to an Underground train driver. Jenni appears to enjoy her job where it is calm and quiet and she's in control, much as she is in control of her online persona. Not even a sponging brother or a jumper phase her. One of her passengers is a young Muslim man who gradually becomes more disenchanted with the West, even as his father gets ready to be presented to the queen after being named on the latest Honours List. To prepare, he hires a tutor to educate him about literature. He finds the drippiest old toad of a reviewer who clings to the farthest edge of the British literary world. And so on. Unlike, say a Kate Atkinson novel where the various storylines connect, these characters barely bump up against each other. Their storylines doesn't intersect the way it initially appears they might. And the focus soon turns to whether Veals will be able to pull off his latest scheme to play fast and loose with the world's financial markets. Although each character's story has a resolution, Faulks is more interested in reporting, in creating a story of "it is what it is". And in a real world where the actual Dow Jones plunged 1,000 points in May because a Citi trader hit "b" for billion instead of "m" for million, it's easy to see how a schemer such as Veals is tempted daily to take the money and run. His tracks are practically covered for him in this era of shadow markets, derivatives and deregulation. While this writing strategy lends itself to inferring commentary, it also weakens that commentary and so does not add up to much. Faulks deals with some important issues on both global and familial scales. And he creates intriguing characters, from the sniveling book critic (who reminds me of that odious the Rev. Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice) to an earnest young lawyer reading the Koran in a freezing bedsit. But as crucial as characters are, and as worthwhile as certain issues and themes are to explore, they do require a plot worthy of their potential. This is where A Week in December falls flat. It's not a complete failure, but it isn't a great book. And it could have been.
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Devils Keep
by
Phillip Finch
Lynne Perednia
, June 15, 2010
Ray Favor is very, very good at what he does, making money, sensing profit in deals well before others. It's getting to be very, very old hat though. What's left after a guy has made a fortune several times over? Especially if the way he makes that fortune is not what he was originally trained to do. Favor is one of four members of Bravo Cell One Nine, a special ops quartet that accomplished any number of complicated, dangerous and slightly sordid missions over the years. They've gone their separate ways, except Ray got the girl, but have remained in touch. He was a killing machine but walked away from that job. Now he's ready to walk away from making money. It's all got to mean a little more than being good at it just for the sake of being good at it. When team member Alex Mendonza hears from a distant relative in the Philippines that a teenage girl has disappeared in Manila when she left her village for a well-paying job, Ray and the others are in. Their mission gets even more urgent when her brother, searching for her in the big city, also disappears. The reader knows that the teens have been whisked away to an island in the middle of nowhere, kept alone but healthy. When a captive begins to receive injections, he or she soon disappears. Finch is adept at setting up the situation and moving the action between the two main storylines as the Bravo team searches for the teens. Why the young people are being abducted may not be much of a secret, but that's not the point. It's the adrenaline rush that matters. And Finch is terrific at delivering. The author plays fair as the plot unfolds, something novels as action-packed as this one don't always deliver. Finch also sets up the opportunity for further novels. They would be welcome both as fast-paced thrillers and the chance that Favor, a rock climber who tries to conquer the most dangerous places, will explore whether he can redeem his past as he carves out a different path.
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Terminated
by
Simon Wood
Lynne Perednia
, May 23, 2010
Gwen Farris has a good life and appreciates it. She and her husband have a young daughter, who they consider a miracle baby after Gwen's severe injuries inflicted years earlier. She has a new supervising position in a pharmecuticals company and loves her job. Too bad she gave an honest employee evaluation to the office misfit. Stephen Tarbell is more than irritated. This young Farris woman came to the company, took the job he deserved and gave him a less than steller job performance review. He's done being walked all over. After all, he's the one who really gets the work done. He's the one who the company should reward. He's the one who will get what he deserves. And so will his new supervisor. This is the setup to a brilliant new thriller by Simon Wood, newly nominated by the Crime Writers Association for a short story Dagger award. Tarbell first accosts Gwen Farris in the company parking lot one evening after she's worked late, pulling a knife on her. She reports the incident and a private firm is brought in to investigate, promising they will serve her Tarbell's head on a platter as long as she doesn't go to the police and is quiet. Mustn't cause any bad PR for the company, after all. Wood employs his excellent descriptive ability to keep the story moving, to explain why Gwen doesn't go to the police for starters. There also are plausible reasons why her employer is willing to take these steps to find out exactly what happened and deal with it in this manner. And there's groundwork laid early for why Gwen is even more rattled by the attack. It's a familiar situation. Those injuries that she recovered from happened when a would-be rapist plunged a knife into her stomach years ago. Everything works together to keep the pages turning and the action believable, because Wood does such a good job setting everything up. So when the action gets twistier and trickier, the reading adrenaline kicks, past actions are portents to the present and everything comes rushing up to an action-packed climax. That the reader will have to choose between cheering the main character on or urging a different course of action is part of the rush. A thriller about work place conflict are benign words for what are horrific actions in this case. The story also shows what changes a victim can go through, especially one who has gotten up once and who has a lot to fight for -- and whether the end justifies the means. Wood adds additional layers with the compelling supporting characters, especially a retired cop whose actions play a pivotal role, and scenes showing Tarbell's life away from the office. The latter add to the creep factor in an affective way, avoiding the overused first-person monologues set italics. And Tarbell's line of thinking after a particularly vile act is especially chilling. Most terrifingly, TERMINATED shows how easy it is for the person being harassed to not be believed, especially if she stands up for herself.
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Imperfect Birds
by
Anne Lamott
Lynne Perednia
, May 22, 2010
In a novel bursting out of its seams with little moments, Anne Lamott continues the chronicle of anxious, recovering alcoholic mother Elizabeth and force of nature daughter Rosie in Imperfect Birds. And oh, what a wallop some of those little moments carry. Such as the time Elizabeth finds pills in her daughter's jeans and rationalizes their existence. After all, she's a good kid. She's tried cocaine, done a little pot and booze, and is sexually active. The cocaine "upsets" Elizabeth, but Rosie is a good kid. Hold on. That's a good kid? Whose behavior doesn't scream trouble at her overprotective mother? After all, Elizabeth is a woman who sits at home days while the others are gone and imagines fatal accidents happening to her loved ones. It's times like that which may make the reader feel like Margaret Mead reading someone else's field notes. Mother, daughter and longtime stepfather James, and their best friends Rae and Lank, live in an idyllic northern California community that's big on organics, good causes, nondenominational churches, flavored coffee drinks and baked goods. All the adults have pasts and all the kids are developing them. Most spend their time seeking drugs and sex because, like, they can't handle it. The community Anne Lamott has created feels both homey and exotic. Going by authorial tone, there is no doubt it's a place she feels at home. But as precious as it is, something must be missing because Rosie is seeking something, anything, to keep up with what her friends are doing. There's little sense of why she feels compelled to try the risky behaviors, unless her addictive personality being inherited from her mother is factored in. But her friends are doing the same thing. They're all trying as many drugs, as much alcohol and as many sexual partners as they can. Rosie would like to add a teacher to her tally. Still, exploring why Rosie has gone this route isn't the focus of the novel, although there are portions where an omniscent look at her interior thoughts are recorded. Imperfect Birds isn't quite Elizabeth's story either, because she really doesn't change during the story. She's an anxious recovering alcoholic at the beginning of the story and the same at the end. Perhaps it's best to say this novel isn't about a main character, but instead is the chronicle of how a relationship is assumed to be close and yet veers close to the edge of an emotional abyss. Even with clear evidence, Elizabeth refuses to acknowledge Rosie is in serious trouble. As things escalate, Elizabeth buys home testing kits that Rosie easily can pass with a bit of trickery. And Elizabeth keeps trying to convince herself and James that things are all right. That Rosie is a good kid. No matter who she's having sex with, or wants to have sex with. No matter how she disappears at night. No matter what pills she's popping and what she's washing them down with. No matter how she's not only lying to Elizabeth and James, but to herself. The small moments that convey this growing crisis often sounds more like an NPR column. Which is appropriate, because James gets a new gig as an NPR columnist and minor local celebrity. The smugness is nearly palpable. But almost as if she realizes what a reader who isn't Anne Lamott might be feeling, Lamott builds in an episode in which James loses his cool in public, in one of those myriad moments that aggravate anyone's life these days. Although the repercussions don't extend to the main narrative arc of Rosie's spiralling out of control, they are exactly the type of reflection that add depth and compassion to Imperfect Birds. And it's those small moments that may not quite build into a cohesive whole, but which make Lamott worth reading. And which may make it worth a reader's while to go back to see the beginning of the story of Elizabeth and Rosie in two earlier novels, Rosie and Crooked Little Hearts. And which may make a reader wish it's not another 10 years before Lamott devises another novel to imagine what will happen now that Rosie is an adult.
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Shoot to Thrill
by
P J Tracy
Lynne Perednia
, April 18, 2010
The wait for a new Monkeewrench novel is over. At last. And it was worth it. The FBI has asked the brilliant Monkeewrench gang for help with a new twist in cyber crime. Film of murders -- real murders in progress -- are being posted on the Internet. There is bragging in advance. Even finding the bodies and tying the crimes together is a challenge. With evil this audacious, the Monkeewrenchers can't resist the challenge. Even if it means allowing an FBI liasion into their HQ. Special Agent John Smith is near the end of his career as a federal agent. He's true blue. Boy, are Grace, Harley, Annie and Roadrunner going to eat him up and spit him out. Guaranteed. Meantime, the murders coincidentally come under the purview of Minneapolis's finest, Magozzi and Gino. Besides stone-cold camera-loving assassins, the cops have an alcoholic judge who trawls the Minneapolis banks of the Mississippi River as if he was a Carl Hiaasen character to worry about. It's a given that the Monkeewrench gang and the cops will discover their mutual interests in sharing information. But it's the ability of mother-daughter writing team Patricia J. and Traci Lambrecht to combine the extreme individuality and geekiness of the Monkeewrench folk with a solid procedural that keeps the action spinning. And although the plot is drawn well and executed deftly, it's the characterizations that make this series one of the best out there. Even the victims and potential victims are drawn in brief yet thorough portraits that make these characters as full-bodied as any series regular. They'd all be interesting to learn more about, especially a certain older lawman and a waitress. To reward longtime fans for the long wait, there's an ending that most probably won't see coming. And what it bodes for the future means it better not take this long for the next P.J. Tracy novel to come out.
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Without Mercy
by
Lisa Jackson
Lynne Perednia
, April 10, 2010
Jules Farentino lost her sense of self and direction when she discovered her murdered father's body a few years ago. Between migraines and depression, she lost her teaching job, moved back to Seattle and is getting by as a waitress. When her younger half-sister Shay is sent against her will to a remote academy for troubled teens in the rugged Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon, Jules is frantic. Her baby sister needs to be rescued and no one, from her distracted mother to her cousin, who was once at the academy herself, believes her. But Jules has a point. Another teenage girl disappeared from Blue Rock Academy. A teacher was dismissed after improper relations with another student. The reverend who runs the academy gives Jules the creeps. Something bad is going on. When Shay calls her on a contraband phone and begs for rescue, Jules can't resist. Fudging a few details, she gets hired to take the fired teacher's place and arrives at the academy just as a blizzard descends to strand everyone. What Jules wasn't expecting was that among the faculty is someone else acting undercover. Trent Cooper was her first love, but Jules pushed him away after the trauma of her father's unsolved murder. The parents of the missing girl hired him to see what he could discover. Working together while hoping their covers aren't blown, Jules and Trent soon discover those old fires don't need much encouragement to burn brighter than ever. But both Jules and Shay have come under the scrutiny of the leader who desires them, although he may desire exercising power even more. All the various threads and suspicious characters at the academy come together in an explosive denouement that keeps the twists coming until the last page. Lisa Jackson creates a strong plot with characters whose actions are compelling. With fast and furious action, her strengths anchor the narrative so the reader can feel the wind whipping past without worrying about tipping over the edge. WITHOUT MERCY works even better because it is set in Jackson's Pacific Northwest. Her knowledge and appreciation of this resplendent, rugged and majestic part of the world infuses every aspect of the story. This is one wild trip worth taking.
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Little Death
by
P J Parrish
Lynne Perednia
, April 01, 2010
Private eye Louis Kincaid has found himself rudderless, and, without really agreeing to it, is now in the middle of a sordid Grand Society murder case in Palm Beach. His partner, Mel, talks him into talking to a potential client. Reggie Kent is a walker, that old-school escort of Grand Society Dames who never, ever, ever gets notions beyond his role. Reggie was mentoring a young man who he genuinely cared for, but who brushed him off. Mark Durand is found without his head in a Florida cattle pen. Reggie is an easy suspect to a homophobic detective. The foreman of the ranch where the body is found doesn't want anyone intruding. Society in Palm Beach certainly doesn't want anyone intruding. The Palm Beach police not only don't want anyone intruding, Kincaid is ticketed for having an ugly car. And the sheriff's detective who actually is investigating the murder doesn't care if anyone tries to intrude, because he thinks he's got his man. So, of course, Kincaid finds himself intruding. During the course of this perfectly paced investigation, Kincaid also finds himself looking into relationships and redemption. His lover, Joe, is busy as a sheriff herself and wants him to want something for himself. So he goes along with the first woman who crooks her finger at him. Mel, who is losing his eyesight, still knows a good thing when he sees it in a tony restaurant bartender. The ranch foreman shows a quiet dignity and strength that has lasted decades. A puppy dog policeman with a too-perfect father and a secret of his own has a superb story arc. And one of Palm Beach's oldest matrons, who calls champagne "shampoo", turns out to be more of a treasure than all her bank accounts combined. Sisters Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols, who are P.J. Parrish, have a smooth writing style that propels the story along, keeping the investigation and new revelations at the fore. At the same time, the story is filled with ideas that make Kincaid himself an extremely interesting person who is on his own journey of discovery. Even though resolution involves some characters going completely over the top, THE LITTLE DEATH ends on a high note with many avenues possible. The next novel in the series cannot come soon enough. I've already glommed onto the back list.
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Making Toast
by
Roger Rosenblatt
Lynne Perednia
, March 29, 2010
Less than a month before Christmas in 2007, an apparently healthy doctor, wife and mother suddenly died at home. Her parents came to help her widower and three young children, and stayed. Because the woman's parents are decent, kind-hearted people, as are her husband and siblings, this is a calm, gentle book about a family being good to each other even while everyone's heart breaks. Because her father is noted writer and teacher Roger Rosenblatt, readers are brought into the family circle. Making toast is the morning job assigned to Rosenblatt, whose "grandpa" name is Boppo. He even has a song about how great Boppo is and delights in teaching it not only to his grandchildren, but to one of their classes at school, where it is a hit. Boppo finds solace in the seemingly mundane task of getting everyone's breakfast correct. Grandson Bubbies, 2, demands real toast and, with calm authority, his grandfather's presence at the breakfast table. His grandfather writes that Bubbies sounds the way Paul Newman should have when he was a baby. Despite the trauma of two of the three children discovering their mother dead of an asymptomatic heart condition during an exercise session at home, there is little drama in the book. And that's on purpose. The joys are calm, the hurt deep but shared without being maudlin, the children are put first by everyone with no one complaining about "my" time. Instead, Rosenblatt shows how he and the other adults find their small life pleasures in taking care of the daily routines that keep the children in school, active and listened to whenever they have something to say. Without going into specifics of how time began to heal his wounds, and none of that "closure" business, Rosenblatt writes of the one time he felt another presence. He writes of how he puts off listening to his daughter's last voicemail message. He writes of carrying on day by day. Rosenblatt also has tidbits throughout about the writing process and creative process, both with his college students and grandchildren, that resonate with their reality. Making Toast is a lovely book about one way to approach the aftermath of something horrific. It is balm to read and an honor to be invited, even at a distance, into this family.
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One Amazing Thing
by
Chitra B Divakaruni
Lynne Perednia
, March 07, 2010
A disparate group of strangers put their lives on hold in an Indian consulate in an unnamed American city one day, whether seeking travel visas or putting in another dreary day at work. There is nearly a palpable sense of being in a hurry to return to real life. Until an earthquake hits. And life will never be the same for any of those strangers who are now forced to get to know each other. Divakaruni gives her characters full rein to run the gamut of emotions and reactions, from panic to heroism to fighting and sneaking a smoke. But it is when one of them, thinking of her college course copy of Chaucer in her pack, proposes that each of them tell a story about one amazing thing that happened in their lives, that this novel comes to life. The characters and their stories are pleasingly varied. All of them carry at least a tinge of poignancy. Some are especially compelling, perhaps in part because the characters to whom they belong seemed the least likely to be interesting. The little boy who found comfort in numbers, for example, carries an understated emotional wallop precisely because the author does not layer on the pathos with a trowel. The ending may not satisfy some readers as the present day situation becomes more dire. And many of the characters' stories seem to exist within a vacuum, with little more than a passing glance at their current life. However, readers who do not require having everything spelled out for them and all the timeline dots connected will find many small treasures in this novel.
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Spiced A Pastry Chefs True Stories of Trials by Fire After Hours Exploits & What Really Goes on in the Kitchen
by
Dalia Jurgensen
Lynne Perednia
, March 01, 2010
Dalia Jurgensen had what she thought was her dream job, working for a magazine. But she decided she thought wrong. And instead took up a new career as a pastry chef. Luckily for her readers, she remembered enough about journalism to craft an interesting look at restaurant life from the dessert corner of the kitchen. Starting out as an assistant, putting up with egos and sexist pigs and cowardly waiters who take it out on the kitchen, Jurgensen also meets talented and generous creative people. And she learns from all of them. She works the line, she preps, she works her way back to being the dessert chef when a dear friend opens his own restaurant. Throughout, the work is hard and the hours long. The food sounds delicious. Although Jurgensen doesn't concentrate on her personal life, the parts she does include relate to the job and show once again the perils of falling in love when not on your own time. She doesn't reveal much else about herself, but it's easy to infer that she strives to be great at what she does because she likes it. And Jurgensen's basic decency shines through, especially when she and her fellow chefs respond to the needs of Ground Zero workers. But it's the food and the way people work together to bring it to diners that are in the forefront. SPICED may be more sweet than spicy, but it is an entertaining look at the restaurant world.
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Black Suns Daughter Darker Angels 02
by
M L N Hanover, Daniel Abraham
Lynne Perednia
, February 14, 2010
In Unclean Spirits, the first novel featuring Jayne Heller, she discovered her late uncle's demon-fighting legacy, a fortune and potential powers of her own. As she continues on a quest of self-discovery, she encounters friends and foes, learning how to work with both and keep both at arm's length in Darker Angels. Because Jayne has kept her uncle's phone, she gets a call from a someone who knew him -- and who needs help. Jayne and her band of hunters, who gathered around her in the opening novel, head to post-Katrina New Orleans to help former FBI agent Karen Black. Once there, this "don't want to be the Scoooby gang" faces individual and group moments of truth, partly from the voodoo-inspired threat and partly from their own reluctance to face facts about how these former lovers now depend on each other. Karen is everything Jayne thinks she is not -- self-confident, knowledgeable and kick-ass in battle. But why does she think she needs help from, if not Uncle Eric, then from his niece? And why does the youngest member of the Voodoo Heart Temple know more about Jayne than Jayne herself? Hanover's story is a layered portrait of a young woman coming into her own. Jayne is coping with the new-found knowledge of her favorite uncle's wealth and what he really was. She is dealing with continuing a relationship with a man she is attracted to, but feels she needs to keep her distance because of a former relationship of his that hasn't quite been finished. Her other new friends, also employees, have baggage of their own and are accustomed to doing their own thing even though they consider themselves a team now. New Orleans and the emotional price in prolonged recovery plays a subtle role in this story. The voodoo aspect is handled not with tackiness, but with trepidation and respect. The city receives a love letter from Hanover. Although it's not known if other Jayne Heller novels are in the works, they would be welcome. The characters have compelling storylines that have not yet come to fruition, and Hanover (fantasy author Daniel Abraham) is very talented at having their exploits serve their inner journeys. Both Unclean Spirits and Darker Angels make The Black Sun Daughter's story well worth reading.
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Lay Down My Sword & Shield
by
James Lee Burke
Lynne Perednia
, February 12, 2010
Hackberry Holland came on the literary landscape in 1971, talking about the bullet holes in his porch left by John Wesley Hardin when the outlaw confronted Hack's grandfather before relating how an up-and-coming politician ended up far from the corridors of power. In 2009, Hack was seen again in Burke's brilliant RAIN GODS. Now, Hack's introduction, LAY DOWN MY SWORD AND SHIELD, has been reprinted. Son of a congressman, Hack is on the verge of becoming one himself. All he has to do is live through endless cocktail parties, meetings with donors and pretending to be happily married to his ice queen wife. Anyone who survived being a Korean prisoner of war should be able to put up with a few wealthy Texas housewives and a senator, right? Instead, Hack is drinking himself into oblivion. When an Army buddy calls from jail after being arrested walking a picket line with Mexican workers near the border, Hack hightails it to help. It's the end of his old life and the beginning of his new one. This isn't just Hack's story. Burke uses his questing, honest hero not only to show Hack's personal journey to make his life meaningful. He also shows what it meant when the song would soon be "The Times They Are A'Changin' ". Whether it's non-white people trying to make the American dream come true, whites who brutally try to stop time's progress or an opportunistic politician and someone who scares even him, Hack crosses their paths. Their combined stories provide a fascinating and important glimpse into what life was like for some people during the 60s. LAY DOWN MY SWORD AND SHIELD is a stirring remembrance of a time when people's actions made profound impacts. That Burke brought Hack back in RAIN GODS only makes the original story more powerful. Those who have read RAIN GODS will want to see where Hack came from, while those who are introduced to him through this first novel will want to pick up the later book right away. Even though they are set decades apart, they are connected by a character who remained true to himself throughout the years. That's the kind of power James Lee Burke brings to his stories.
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Gilead
by
Marilynne Robinson
Lynne Perednia
, January 26, 2010
What a wise and wonderful book by Marilynne Robinson. In creating the written legacy of an old man who never expected to be a father, and another man's son who relies on him, Robinson has opened a window onto the human heart that shows how love and forgiveness can make a life worth living. Going back two generations from the narrator to wicked stories of bloody Kansas to the mid-20th century, GILEAD also shows how the sins of the fathers do not have to dictate the fate of the sons, although the sons are free to make their own mistakes.
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The Brutal Telling
by
Louise Penny
Lynne Perednia
, January 18, 2010
Three Pines, setting of Louise Penny's enjoyable, thoroughly Canadian series, has been a bit like Brigadoon. Not many people seem to find it or recognize its original beauty once there. But those who do discover Three Pines have gloried in their personal journeys, secure that they are living in a place where they are valued for being their eccentric, quirky selves. Although there have been murders on a scale to rival Cabot Cove, the cast of continuing characters has been safe. Until now. Olivier, half of a beloved gay couple whose bistro is the community center of Three Pines, is not at home when the story opens. He is deep in the woods, listening to a frightening ancient tale told by an old hermit. In the next chapter, a body is found in the middle of the night in the bistro. Who is the victim, why was he killed, why was he in the bistro? And what about Marc and Dominique Gilbert, who haved moved to Three Pines to breathe new life into the brooding house that has cast such a dark shadow over the village? Will their tourist-attracting plans intefere with the pleasant life that Olivier and Gabri have made for themselves? Surete Chief Inspector Gamache arrives back in his favorite place that is not his home to see just what is going on. Wonders and heartache await as secrets are revealed and carefully constructed facades crumble. Every novel in this enchanting series has been gradually more complex, delving deeper into the hearts of its characters even as the author plays exceedingly fair in the whodunit puzzle that drives the narrative. In THE BRUTAL TELLING, Louise Penny paints a devastatingly acute portrait of her beloved characters. She shows all they are capable of, both good and evil, in a story that demonstrates how subtly layered a crime fiction novel can be. This book is simply a treasure.
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Unclean Spirits Black Suns Daughter 01
by
M L N Hanover, Daniel Abraham
Lynne Perednia
, January 03, 2010
Jayne Heller was well on her way to being the prototypical slacker -- college dropout, boyfriend cheating on her, Bible Belt parents offering no support. The only person who ever supported her was Uncle Eric, who would swoop into town, give her a boost and leave again. Then he is killed and Jayne travels to Denver as Eric's sole heir. Eric was far more than he seemed. For one, he was upper stratosphere rich. For another, he was a hunter. Of creatures like riders that take over human bodies. Especially riders under the control of Randolph Coin, a powerful member of the Invisible College seeking power. Eric also had colleagues who worked with him on various jobs, including a cadaverous old man who is a demon in the kitchen (among other things), a former priest, a scientific researcher and a fighting expert. These colleagues will come in handy, because the Invisible College killed Eric and now they're after Jayne. Jayne and her new team take a few too many pages to go over the game plan once they determine they will have to take out Randolph Coin. It's almost like they're in hiding even though they have a self-imposed deadline to draw Coin out and kill him. But when the showdown comes, it's well worth the wait. There are spells cast, butts appropriately kicked and a well-plotted climax. Although this is a fairly standard setup for urban paranormal action stories, Hanover has created a viable lead character in Jayne Heller. She's a young woman at the kind of crossroads that every young woman faces, just under extraordinary circumstances, and comes into her own in believable fashion. Her growth as a person and the realization that she may have extra abilities when it comes to this fighting demons thing mesh together well. The mutual attraction she and one of the team feel for each other has a conflict that is more than a Big Misunderstanding, and which can contribute to further plot twists and character development in later books. The secondary characters also are tremendously engaging. And, although it may not be feasible, it would be great to see all of them in subsequent volumes. Hanover is particularly adept at discerning how a young heroine might respond to the circumstances thrown at her in the plot, especially considering that Hanover is Hugo-nominated Daniel Abraham. This well-crafted female protagonist should be used any time it is argued that men cannot create believable women. Unclean Spirits lays the groundwork for what could be a long-lasting, intriguing and enjoyable series.
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Corn Flakes With John Lennon & Other Tales
by
Robert Hilburn
Lynne Perednia
, December 31, 2009
Back in the dawn of time, Modern Era, popular music wasn't even as interesting as it is now in this synthesized, American Idol age. Then along came musicians who knew rhythm and blues, who knew how important it was to be young, who knew there is nothing like a backbeat to get people to listen. Robert Hilburn was there when things really began to take off -- getting rebuffed by Colonel Parker in his attempts to meet Elvis, following Bob Dylan through his ups and downs over the decades, talking his editors into letting him go up to Folsom Prison to see a country singer named Johnny Cash perform. Stories of those times, up to the death of Michael Jackson, are included in this memoir by the longtime Los Angeles Times music critic. Whether it's early recognition of Elton John and being lauded as a starmaker, recognizing the talent of John Prine and watching the rest of the world ignore his albums or being an early advocate of Jack Whyte's talent, for decades Hilburn has been in search of the next big thing that will keep rock 'n roll alive. He's known them all and been close to many. The title comes from a time he was with Lennon on tour who was delighted to be eating corn flakes with cream on them. That was the height of luxury to the poor lad from Liverpool, even after the Beatles and the world's continued attention through his house husband days. Kurt Cobain used Hilburn to get a favorable report how he loved his daughter published while Social Services was investigating whether to take Frances Bean away from him and Courtney Love. Michael Jackson chose him to work on a book project that Jackie Onassis was editing, but was more interested in watching cartoons. Dylan finally opens up after years of taciturn behavior when he's playing for small audiences at small colleges. But his revelations about songwriting when Hilburn proposes a series about the subject are indeed revealing. Hilburn's astute interview skills bring out such observations as Bono's that rock music has something no other kind does -- it is a combination of rhythm, harmony and top-line melody to appeal to the body, the spirit and the mind. Hilburn concludes that the artists he most admires have something in common. They have idealism and commitment. They believe ideas and music matter. The reader can reach the same conclusion while tracing the careers of Cash, Dylan, Lennon, Springsteen, U2 and Jack White through the years Hilburn has known them, talked to them, listened to their music, questioned them and cared about them. Hilburn provides ample proof of how idealism expressed through music has inspired people. He is more reticent about his own life, with a few tidbits thrown in to provide some background to a particular idea or anecdote. But that's because like any good journalist, Hilburn knows it's the story that matters, not the reporter. Hilburn also knows to not stretch the story beyond its scope. He admits not knowing what's going to happen to rock in these days of corporate plastic singers with synthesized voices and celebrity celebrated over talent. But he also believes that genuine music will continue to move people. Rock on, Bob.
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Goulds Book Of Fish A Novel In 12 Fish
by
Richard Flanagan
Lynne Perednia
, August 19, 2009
With a narrator quite unlike any other and a story that weaves in and out of the fabulous, plus incredible use of typeface styles and colors, Gould's Book of Fish is both fable and history. Worth reading more than once.
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Palace Circle
by
Rebecca Dean
Lynne Perednia
, August 06, 2009
In 1911, a privileged 18-year-old girl in Virginia takes one last sunrise ride with her beloved horse before leaving for her new life in England with the man of her dreams. Before long, she learns that her husband doesn't love her; he is in love with a married woman he can never have. Delia is simply going to have to make the best of it. But don't think Palace Circle is going to be about Delia's journey. She accepts her husband's infidelity, the reader is told -- not shown. The story instead chronicles dinner parties, shopping trips and cups of tea with various friends and relatives. The great importance of one of these friends is readily apparent, but not acknowledged, even though it becomes a major plot point at two other points in the narrative. The book then goes to chronicle events in the lives of Delia's two daughters and two young men in their circle. Again, major events are often referred to as taking place offstage. This is understatement in place of narrative revelation, and often feels like a cheat. If something is important, why is it not chronicled? This also leaves the characters as superfical and shallow. It's hard to connect with or care about any of them. Whichever one of them is the protagonist. If any of them are. Whether the events take place in England or Egypt (and a good portion of the story takes place in Cairo), nothing is nuanced or layered. The subtitle also is a cheat. Instead of being "at court with the Prince of Wales, before World War II darkened a world of glamour and grace", Palace Circle never has the Prince of Wales in a scene. Wallis Simpson appears only once. A few other historical figures play minor roles. Palace Circle, had it been what it purported to be, could have been a welcome return to the world of multi-generational sagas.
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Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
by
Katherine Howe
Lynne Perednia
, August 05, 2009
Connie Goodwin is ready to spend the summer working on her Harvard Ph.D.in early American history. After intense encouragement from her advisor, she knows that finding an original document to base her dissertation on will cement her future. Too bad her mother decides that what she really needs to do is clean up her late grandmother's house, which has been long abandoned, so that it can be sold. As luck would have it, that original document may exist in her grandmother's house. Connie thinks there may be a book of wisdom, potions and spells gathered by an ancestress who was tried during the Salem witch trials. In Howe's world, this woman, Deliverance Dane, really was a witch. And so was her daughter, and so on. Like any plucky heroine, Connie doesn't see what an outside observer, such as the reader, cotton on to immediately. Then again, her mother knows exactly why she wants Connie to spend the summer at her grandmother's house and doesn't tell her why. Worse, she could have been preparing her daughter her entire life, and does not. Instead, there is a race against time involving Connie, the book, Connie's new hunky handyman boyfriend and academic ruthlessness. This debut novel brings to mind The Historian in two respects: A new author receives a huge contract and massive publicity, and in return publishes a turgid, awkwardly written book that needs at least one solid rewrite and a plot that doesn't resort to melodrama. It's too bad, because Howe really does know her history as an academic in American and New England history herself. The paranormal aspect of the story is handled very well; this is wise crone-style witchcraft. She also weaves into the narrative episodes featuring various ancestresses, including Deliverance and her steadfast daughter. These scenes are far more vibrant than those taking place in contemporary times. It may be tempting to say the novel would have been better had it been set entirely in the past. But perhaps the historical scenes stand out more because they need to do more for the overall story arc than the contemporary scenes and might not be able to carry an entire novel on their own. Perhaps if Howe spends more time on character development in her next novel, it won't matter which setting she chooses because she could end up with a stronger story.
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Stones Fall
by
Iain Pears
Lynne Perednia
, July 25, 2009
Shipbuilder, arms merchant, industrialist, conqueror of the financial markets, Lord Ravenscliff strangely falls out a window of his London mansion one night to his death. His younger widow, who adored him, hires a young reporter to find out the truth of a new secret revealed in her husband's will. To get to the truth, the reporter looks into the life of the man who was born John Stone. The twists and turns discovered by Matthew Braddock are only the beginning. For both Stone and his wife, a mysterious, beautiful woman who fascinates Braddock, the secrets continue to be uncovered until the last page. Lady Ravenscliff is an Irene Adler-type character, destined to not settle for the dregs of life and able to get out of the most complex pickles. But it's not just the twists, turns and secrets that make this a rewarding read. It's the way they are used to explore ideas about the relationship between finance and government, loyalty and sabotage, money and love, that make STONE'S FALL highly entertaining. John Stone, for example, is a man who came from nothing to be a titan of industry. It's finding ways to outwit the system to discover new ways of making money that attract him. At one point, this arms dealer and shipbuilder, whose companies outfit navies around the world, tells someone that it is government's business to make his companies more secure, not for his companies to protect Britain. The question of whether everything in this world really does have a price becomes important to nearly every character, especially the person Stone loves most in the world, his wife. The implications of Stone's financial dealings, a hornets' nest that threatens to become unraveled at his death, find counterparts in modern financial markets. Pears makes them clear to those of us without Ivy League economic degrees or Wall Street backgrounds. At the same time, the finance is not the main focus of this story. And neither is John Stone. His widow, Elizabeth, becomes fundamental to Stone's life and its trajectory in a way not foreseen at the beginning of the tale. And that secrets continue to be revealed until the end, in a novel told in segments that go backward, rather than forward, in time is as masterful an accomplishment as Pears's ability to explain stock markets shares. It's not often an 800-page novel can be called riveting and a page-turner, but STONE'S FALL meets that test. This is a worthy successor to Pears's publishing phenomenom, THE INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST.
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Rogue Males Conversations & Confrontations about the Writing Life
by
Craig McDonald
Lynne Perednia
, July 23, 2009
Often, those who are not writers can be bored stiff at the idea of reading what writers think about their craft. Thanks to the writers chosen by Craig McDonald to talk about their work, ROGUE MALES is instead a treasure of what makes fiction -- especially crime fiction -- matter. Whether it's James Ellroy talking about his tortured past and plans of future greatness (just before he decided not to give interviews any more), Max Allan Collins and Stephen J. Cannell being honest about scriptwriting, the late James Crumley discussing writers he admires or Tom Russell telling why music matters, ROGUE MALES is filled with riveting people giving honest views on what matters to them when it comes to writing and, through those revelations, what matters in life. The talk about the writing itself remains center stage and is fascinating. Two of the common threads are how the development of characters makes genre writing all the stronger, and how genre doesn't need to be boxed in. For Crumley, McDonald notes how plot takes second place to character. The great Daniel Woodrell has a writer character of his mention that, while others call him a crime writer, he thinks he's writing slice of life dramas. Woodrell also tells that going to the Iowa Writers Workshop was of great benefit to him, because he paid attention to the writing that the others there admired. Being open to look at all manner of things was helpful to him. Character also is important to veteran scriptwriter and novelist Stephen J. Cannell, who thinks that even if a character appears for only two pages in a script, that character "has to have a yesterday and is going to have a tomorrow" for the script to work. Craig Holden relates that his French editor says the story comes from characters following their urges or obsessions. James Sallis comes across as one of the most thoughtful and perceptive writers around in both solo conversations and one with Ken Bruen. Perhaps it's partly because he has lived in so many ways. His experience includes a career as a respiratory therapist (including for severely ill infants), besides writing poetry and a biography of Chester Himes, translating work from the French and editing anthologies. The entire book is worth buying just for his description of how he could begin a piece by a picture that has come to mind, which he says is how his work often begins, and the questions he asks about that visual image in his head. So is his view of why show, not tell, makes for subtle and powerful storytelling. So are his ideas about rewrites and what that first draft does -- in summary, the writer looks at the draft, asks what the draft is trying to say, and then rewrites the story to fit what the draft says. Sallis also has a beautiful image of literature, how it's not a sideboard with separate drawers in which, say, mystery is never touched by poetry, but rather a long buffet. Now that's wisdom. To deepen the conversation, Alistair Macleod says that writing is an act of communication, that writers send out letters to the world. Lee Child also says that now Reacher has been out in the world for more than 10 years, his readers can claim ownership as much as he can. Kinky Friedman, interviewed during his run for governor of Texas, shows he's not kept up with the genre when he says mystery writing is still limited by needing to have a body in the library. The major quibble is that the men McDonald interviews often comment on how perceptive he is of their work. That's got to be validating to McDonald, but to the reader it looks like he's patting himself on the back through their comments. But if that and an obsessive belief that the only modern writing that matters is thanks to Hemingway, then ROGUE MALES has strength and vitality to invigorate writers and other readers alike.
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Sag Harbor
by
Colson Whitehead
Lynne Perednia
, June 27, 2009
Growing up can be hard, confusing and, at times, downright dangerous. Those who get through their teen years with their psyches intact often look back at those days through rose-tinted lenses. Such is the case in Colson Whitehead's semi-autobiographical novel. The summers his family spent being out there, as opposed to life in NYC, are luminously preserved in a series of vignettes that form a loose-limbed narrative in which the sum may be less than its separate parts. But it's a lovely look back all the same. Whitehead's alter ego is introduced the summer that he and his younger brother quit being twins. Not much is made of this, except that it sets the stage for Ben to experience everything that happens through a singular lens. He is part of a group but can take a step back. He doesn't have to keep track of his little brother any more, although they do fend for themselves a lot during the work week while their parents remain in the city. They're not alone. They, and other teenage boys, find summer jobs, hit the beach, drool after girls and explore the world of increasingly dangerous weaponry. Whitehead doesn't make as much of this as he could, beyond noting that soon enough at least one of his friends will have a real gun. And that's typical of the entire novel. Perhaps Whitehead worked so hard at making sure his semi-autobiographical novel is actually fiction that he didn't spend much time on things like plot or narrative arc. But if, instead, SAG HARBOR is viewed as a series of vignettes on what it was like to grow up in a black neighborhood where the TV Cosby family resembled their own homes, then Whitehead's glorious use of language can be enjoyed for its own merits. And, when it comes to looking back at the summer one started to grow up, perhaps it's better to not try to assign an arbitrary plot to everything that happens.
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Life Sentences
by
Laura Lippman
Lynne Perednia
, June 22, 2009
Cassandra Fallows has made a living -- a rather successful living -- writing two memoirs. An attempt at fiction did all right, but sales and critical response are so tepid that she is wondering how to return to the writing she has done best. When she hears the name of a former schoolmate on the news, Cassandra thinks she has found her next subject. Calliope Jenkins came late to the circle of friends, and was a quiet child. But it was still a shock when her second baby disappeared after the first one was gone, and she would never explain what happened. Calliope spent seven years in jail and remained silent. Cassandra knows that Calliope was part of her childhood, but can remember very little about her. So she decides to start by talking to her old friends, even though she didn't consult them when they were included in her bestsellers. The three -- two connected by marriage, one living a separate life -- aren't all that thrilled to see their now-famous former friend. As one tells her, "Maybe we're all just done being supporting players in the Cassandra Fallows show, starring Cassandra Fallows as Cassandra Fallows." (LIFE SENTENCES, p. 130) Interspersed with Cassandra's current search for Calliope are parts of Calliope's days and excerpts from Cassandra's first book. Calliope's narrative is fascinating, but for what it shows about this character and for what it tells about Lippman's theme of honest memory. Lippman is highly skillful in using the narratives from various points of view to explore the question of how accurate anyone's memories are. Whether it's revising a lover's words or not taking into account her own infidelities -- while blaming her father's adultery for the basic sorrow underlying her life, Cassandra's stories raise multiple questions. How accurate is Cassandra in her first bestseller about her father, a WASP professor, leaving her and her mother for Annie, a down-to-earth African American? Does she know what's really going on in events from her childhood? Does she have the details wrong but get the emotions, the overarching narrative emphasis, right? Did she write things that were true even if not exactly, precisely, real? And why did she write about her own infidelities and alleged happy ending in a second memoir? Some readers have been highly critical of this novel, as it is not a traditional mystery. But LIFE SENTENCES proves Lippman doesn't have to limit herself. Although Lippman's crime novels are wonderfully written, LIFE SENTENCES is a natural progression in considering not only how a crime, but any event, is viewed and remembered. Lippman is audacious in creating a main character who can be rather irritating, but whose search remains compelling. The overt mystery of Calliope is dealt with in an unusual manner, but one that fits the overall scope of the novel. If Lippman is so inclined in her further chronicles of Baltimore, whether stand-alones or the Tess Monaghan series, there are plenty of supporting characters who should be seen more. Topmost is Gloria Bustamante, one of Calliope's former lawyers and one tough character with layers only hinted at. Others may not be seen again but will be remembered by discerning readers, such as former cop Teenie, who was forced to retire after a grevious hand injury, and a compromised lawyer who seemed to promising on the surface. LIFE SENTENCES is a worthy addition to Lippman's growing ouevre of hard-hitting fiction that searches into the dark places of human wants and needs.
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Flannery A Life Of Flannery Oconnor
by
Brad Gooch
Lynne Perednia
, June 04, 2009
FLANNERY is an objective look at a remarkable woman who accomplished a great deal during a short life that had more than a bit of suffering and trouble. Although some aspects of her life were not explored -- why the nearly lifelong fascination with exotic birds? -- Gooch sticks to the facts while portraying O'Connor's family, her faith, her circle of friends and some idea of her feelings about racial issues while she discovered and nurtured her gift of storytelling. The end result is a renewed interest in O'Connor's work that will serve both author and reader well.
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Cutting for Stone
by
Abraham Verghese
Lynne Perednia
, May 24, 2009
Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has seen many births over the years, but none quite as remarkable in the circumstances and consequences as that of Marion and Shiva Stone. Before we learn the details of that, however, surgeon Abraham Verghese lets the reader meet the narrator of the 500-plus pages to come. Marion, a surgeon who has a calm, peaceful voice. How he arrived in the world and how that voice developed is a remarkably adept tale of family love, parental love, brotherly love, one's inappropriate first love and love of one's purpose in life. Marion and Shiva are the children of brilliant surgeon Thomas Stone, who is not the kind of person to seek out human company, and young Sister Mary Joseph Praise. Both are en route from India to Ethiopia when they meet during a perilous ship crossing, one in which the intrepid sister demonstrates the full worthiness of her character. At Missing Hospital, Stone shines as a surgeon not only because of his great talent, but also because the nun is his perfect assistant. Still, he and everyone else at the hospital is in shock when the sister goes into childbirth and dies on the operating table. Stone disappears and the children, conjoined in the womb, are raised by the two doctors left at the hospital. The family life that takes up the great middle section of the novel is a great saga. Hema is a lively woman filled with the joy of life. From the moment the babies are born, she becomes their fiercely protecting and nurturing mother. The man who raises them as their father, Ghosh, is a life-loving, take-things-as-they-come hero worthy of Dickens. The family's observations of and participation in the changes that come to a country ruled by an emperor are folded into the story of the boys' growing. The twins, intrinsically connected even though their bodies are separate, subtly go different ways. The role a third party in their childhood, the maid's daughter, Genet, plays has immense consequences for all three of them. Verghese, himself a surgeon and author of two nonfiction books, brings a storyteller's grace to the medical portions of the novel. He rarely stumbles -- one section of a twin seemingly narrating his own life moments after birth is an odd misstep -- making this move into the realm of fiction a delight. Whatever type of story Verghese next chooses to tell, his work is worth finding and savoring. Cutting for Stone is an epic novel that is exciting, comforting, disturbing and continually fascinating.
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Book Of Night Women
by
James, Marlon
Lynne Perednia
, May 24, 2009
Lilith doesn't remember her mother or father. She has been raised by a slave, Circe, who pretty much does as she likes on a Jamaican sugar plantation as the century turns from 18th to 19th. The closest thing she has to a father, she thinks, is a slave who has lost his mind, and a few body parts, and who is reduced to living on a chain outside like a pitbull. Lilith survives under the protection of head house slave Homer, a woman who runs the household with rigor and holds her back straight. She also often speaks in riddles to Lilith, leaving the girl to figure out for herself what evil lurks in every heart. Including, in harrowing episodes, Lilith's own. That such a child not only survives, but works toward living life on her own terms as best she can, may not seem plausible. But Marlon James, a literature and creative writing professor, makes it believable in his second novel, The Book of Night Women. As her circumstances change, usually drastically and often for the worse, Lilith has little support working her way through the labryinth of feelings that confront a girl who becomes a woman, all the while never knowing true freedom to feel as she would like. Whether it's coming to terms for her feelings toward three important white men in her life or her sisters who seek revenge, Lilith has a lot to consider. James has written a brutal, earthy and compelling narrative written in a dialect that forces a reader to either let the story flow over or to slow down and ponder what every nuance means not only to his heroine, but also to the reader. There is language certain to offend people, especially those who can't even handle Mark Twain. There is never getting away from the harsh brutality of what slavery means, of the cruel physical and psychological misery that one group of people can do to another group, or one individual to another. The inability of the white people in the story to not understand that they haven't earned loyalty and affection after the whippings and rapings, and worse, is but one part of this massive story that has repercussions to this day. The beauty of this novel is that the author does not have to stand on a soapbox. The reality of the way people were treated speaks for itself. What James has done is to bring to vivid life the emotions and feelings of characters who are part of it without having a say in their place. And this includes some white characters as well as the slaves. That not many of the characters can handle their fate well does not mean their stories are not worth telling.
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Happy Hour At Casa Dracula
by
Marta Acosta
Lynne Perednia
, May 24, 2009
Milagro de Los Santos has a degree from an Ivy League university (which she calls F.U.), a love for gardening and night life, and little else. Certainly no idea of what she is supposed to do with her life, outside a vague idea of writing a novel, and most certainly no man. On the thinnest of premises she attends a swanky author's party in Manhattan, where she bumps into the boy who spurned her at college. Unfortunately, he is the author being lauded. Not so unfortunately, or at least she thinks at first, Milagro is swept off her feet by a mysterious stranger. They exchange body fluids, including some blood. Milagro thinks she may have got a virus. She feels drugged, sleeps all the time, especially in the day, and craves raw hamburger. She also now has more man trouble than she ever dreamed she could land. Oswaldo, the mysterious stranger, wants to whisk her away to a secluded country estate. Sebastian, the boy who dumped her in college, thinks she has become a vampire. Milagro, of course, ends up at the country estate where she settles in with a variety of well-educated, charming people. Most interesting is the prickly Edna, who could have given Dorothy Parker a run for her money at the Algonquin. There is also Oswaldo, who is at times charming and at times just confusing, and a beautiful, brilliant doctor who has personal knowledge of exactly what has affected Milagro. She also happens to be Oswaldo's fiancee. Happy Hour is a long book with many meandering scenes, mainly because it is more a story of Milagro growing up than a traditional romance. It also is longer because there are not only the romance tropes to include, but also exploring whether the merry band in the country actuallly are vampires. There also is the question of just what is going on with a shadowy group called CACA, which really buys the vampire story and wants to stamp them all out. One of the loosest cannons in the group is Sebastian, who can't decide whether to bed Milagro or shoot her. Despite the extra story elements, which Acosta does weave into a cohesive whole, Happy Hour shines best when the focus is on Milagro and her journey. Whether she ends up with a man, and the right man, whether she becomes a writer, what Edna can teach her and other questions, are the more interesting because Milagro's first-person voice enlivens the novel. Acosta has a sure touch in making Milagro engaging, sympathetic and witty without making her perky or snarky.
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